Target 16

Measures

• Number of First Nations languages spoken.


• Number of First Nations languages spoken at strong level.

Data periods

• 2018–19


• Time trend data: 2004–05, 2014–15, 2018–19.

Data source

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) National Indigenous Languages Survey (NILS) via the Productivity Commission website (PC 2023; AIATSIS 2023, 2020).

Region types

Main structures: Australia, states and territories.

Suppression

Measure based on publicly available data with no further suppression rules applied.

Notes

• Data is available at for Australia for the years 2004–05, 2014–15, 2018–19. Data for states and territories is available for 2018–19.


• Strong language: the language is used by all age groups, including all children, and people in all age groups are fluent speakers.


• State and territory is classified according to the ‘geographical location’ of each language, as recorded on the AustLang dataset. (AustLang is a thesaurus of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages and peoples, maintained by AIATSIS.) The AustLang dataset records the state and/or territory of a language according to its cultural/historical location (using referenced sources). As the geographic location of some languages covers more than one state and/or territory, the sum of languages across states and territories, is greater than the national total.


• Each NILS has had slightly different objectives and therefore methodologies have differed. The methodology for future NILS may change, making it difficult to provide time series data.


• The term ‘languages’ usually refers to distinct systems of communication that are not mutually intelligible. Some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages may be mutually intelligible but speakers prefer to describe them as different languages. For example, Western Desert Language includes Ngaanyatjarra and Pitjantjatjara, which are mutually intelligible, but speakers tend to refer to them as separate languages.


• Assessing and comparing proficiency of languages across the NILS series is difficult because of the use of different measures of proficiency.


• It can be difficult to grade the vitality of a language.


• There are complexities in arriving at precise numbers. NILS respondents self-report, and various respondents for an individual language variety may have differing interpretations of survey questions, or may be considering differing criterion or measures in their response.


• NILS data may be affected by poor geographical and demographic coverage due to an inability to reach remote and rural areas, and an undercounting of children.


• NILS3 was conducted in 2018-19. NILS3 only reported on spoken languages. It did not report on signed languages. There are many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sign languages.

Measures

• Number of First Nations people who reported using an Indigenous language at home.


• Proportion (%) of First Nations people who reported using an Indigenous language at home, by sex and age group.

Available by

• Sex: males, females, persons


• Age group: 0–14, 25–44, 45–64, 65 and over.

Data period

Census night (10 August) 2021

Data source

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census of Population and Housing 202 (ABS 2022).

Region types

• Main structures: Australia, states and territories


• Indigenous structures: Indigenous Regions (IREG).

Suppression

• Data have been suppressed if the denominator for the percentage was less than 100, due to concerns about the reliability of percentages based on small denominators.


• Data have been suppressed if responses to the relevant data item(s) was not stated for >50% of the relevant population, due to relatively high exposure to potential bias.


• Data have been flagged as interpret with caution if responses to the relevant data item(s) was not stated for 25% –50% of the relevant population, due to relatively high exposure to potential bias.

Notes

Data are based on AIHW analysis of ABS microdata.